The Railway 200 Rail Safety Pack educates children on safe, confident travel, and inspires lifelong public transport use for a safer, sustainable future.
As the Railway 200 campaign marks two centuries since the first public railway journey in the UK, many are looking back at the history of our national railway systems. However, it’s also important to look ahead and invest in the future of our many railways.
Amulet is a proud sponsor of the Railway 200 Rail Safety Pack, which brings personal safety and travel awareness into classrooms. It focuses on children aged nine to 11, who are nearing the age when they may begin travelling on public transport independently.
Apart from understanding how to use the train safely, it’s important to raise awareness of the dangers of trespassing, of which there are 19,000 incidents on UK railways each year. As well as the devastating human costs, trespassing causes 750,000 minutes of train delay for passengers and £75 million in direct costs to the taxpayer.
For many children, the messages in the pack are their first structured introduction to rail safety and journey planning, knowledge that will serve them throughout adolescence and adulthood.
Chris Leech MBE, associate principal consultant at Tracsis – another sponsor of the pack – said: “With hi-tech stealth-like trains travelling at colossal speeds, there has never been a more important time to educate young people on the consequences of trespassing and anti-social behaviour on the railway.
“I’m delighted to have collaborated with Amulet to create a fun and informative Rail Safety Pack to accompany the Railway 200 Inspiration train as it travels across the UK. The pack will actively encourage peer-to-peer education on how to travel on our amazing network confidently and safely.”
What’s in the pack?
The Railway 200 Rail Safety Pack is designed to be both educational and accessible. It includes exercises covering everything from spotting dangerous behaviours at stations to planning journeys using real train timetables. The goal is to promote good habits early: looking after your belongings, staying alert in crowded environments, and respecting railway infrastructure.
One of the standout exercises is a ‘spot the dangers’ activity that asks students to identify eight unsafe behaviours in a busy station scene, ranging from trespassing to distractions like headphone use. Key messages are reinforced throughout the pack in clear, child-friendly language. Slogans like ‘STOP. WAIT. WALK.’ are used to remind young people how to behave safely near railway crossings. The accompanying instructions encourage discussions with adults or teachers, creating an opportunity for dialogue about risky scenarios and how to avoid them.
To help pupils understand how to plan a train trip, a sample Northern timetable between Leeds and Carlisle is included, where pupils must calculate departure and arrival times to meet a travel requirement. It’s an early but essential lesson in logistical thinking and using public transport responsibly.
The activity pack also addresses theft prevention, reminding students that personal items such as phones, tablets, and bags should be kept secure and out of sight. Created in the style of the award-winning Rail Safety Badge for UK Scouting, the resource features a special lesson plan developed by Open University lecturer Stuart Wroe.
Teachers are encouraged to integrate the materials into their lesson plans, and the activities are designed to spark discussion with parents and carers at home. In many cases, the activity pack provides the first structured conversation between children and adults about travelling independently, especially for pupils preparing to transition to secondary school, when solo travel often begins.
Forging a long-lasting relationship
While the campaign is pegged to the Railway 200 celebration, its impact is designed to be long-lasting. The use of public transport is very much part of the UK’s transition to net zero. Encouraging safe, confident rail travel at an early age makes it more likely that children will become lifelong users of public transport.
Instilling a sense of shared responsibility among future passengers has knock-on effects on the entire network, reducing incidents, improving passenger behaviour, and supporting station staff and train operators in creating a more positive travel experience for all.
Businesses operating in and around railways need to engage with the people affected by our services. We want to deliver meaningful social value, using our knowledge and experience to help educate and support the next generation in this instance. By being members of the Rail Forum and active partners in the Rail Safe Friendly programme, businesses can help bring safety education to schools nationwide.
Together, organisations and communities can help make rail travel safer, smarter, and more socially responsible for everyone. Here’s to the next 200 years of rail travel!
The Railway 200 Rail Safety Pack is on board the official Inspiration Train, a special train touring the country as part of the Railway 200 celebrations. It is bringing together schools, communities and railway partners to share stories from the past and hopes for the future of rail.
Image credit: Network Rail
